February 4, 2009

New home for women’s shelter is a gift of hope

Mother Teresa’s nuns move homeless shelter to a new home

By Tom Barry

On Jan. 26, a frigid Monday night with several inches of snow and temperatures hovering below zero, nearly 200 people trudged up the stairs of St. Joseph Church to welcome some new residents to the parish campus, Blessed Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. 

Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., celebrated a Mass in the church before blessing the new home of the sisters’ Gift of Mary Homeless Shelter for women located in the old St. Joseph School building.

A six-member choir, two playing guitars, began singing in Spanish as the archbishop and Father Jorge De Los Santos, pastor of St. Joseph’s, approached the altar. 

Father De Los Santos noted that four Missionaries of Charity sisters will be serving the “poorest of the poor” of this impoverished neighborhood located near the busy intersection of Sixth Avenue and Galapago Street.

The Missionaries of Charity order was founded by Mother Teresa in 1950 in Calcutta, India. The nuns follow the traditional  vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and a fourth vow—to give “wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor.”

Mother Teresa died in 1997. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 and given the title “Blessed.”

Her nuns began serving HIV/AIDS patients in Denver at Seton House, a nonprofit hospice located at 1840 Grant St., in 1989. As medicine and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients improved, the sisters’ ministry changed to serving homeless women.

“We are here to celebrate what the sisters will do and what Christ will do at the new Gift of Mary Homeless Shelter,” Archbishop Chaput told the congregation as he began to express his heartfelt words embracing the hard work and extraordinary efforts of the sisters. 

 “The sisters wanted to be with the poor and decided to move when they saw the neighborhood being gentrified and speckled with expensive residences by people and investors moving into (it),” explained Father Regis Scanlon, O.F.M. Cap., who serves as spiritual advisor to the sisters.

“They looked for a new area to serve the ‘poorest of the poor,’” he said. “There are many single homeless women in the Denver area who do not have any place to turn. They need a place to go for peace and spiritual direction. These single women need a starting point to get their lives together.”

The sisters use a variety of resources to assist the homeless women they care for during their typical one to three month stay.  The nuns make an effort to provide direction in the respective lives of their residents, finding a new place for them to live after leaving the temporary shelter.

The former school building was recently transformed into a shelter that can accommodate up to eight homeless women and the nuns. The Archdiocese of Denver donated more than $300,000 toward renovation of the building. Archbishop Chaput expressed gratitude to the numerous councils of the Knights of Columbus who cleaned the building and relocated the sisters to their new shelter.

“We are grateful for the sister’s contribution,” the archbishop said.  “We see in their poverty that we can give to others.  We are all looking for a better house and love in our community.  God is at hand and in the presence of their smile.”

The church bells chimed on the quarter hour, as the archbishop added, “We want you to be women of the Church and challenge us and get all of us involved in the work you do.”

The prelate then led a solemn procession with the Eucharist, clergy and supporters to the shelter to bless it. While walking alongside Sixth Avenue the priests and sisters broke into a calming and beautiful melody as traffic passed.

Once inside the new shelter, the archbishop, clergy, nuns and a handful of fortunate supporters crowded into its chapel. This former classroom is simply adorned with a statue of the Blessed Virgin, a large wooden cross, a portrait of Blessed Mother Teresa, an altar and tabernacle.

“This chapel is a place of meditation and mutual love,” the archbishop said.

The sisters then led the prelate to bless their work area, dormitory and living quarters.

“It was an honor to receive the archbishop to our parish,” said Father De Los Santos.  “The presence of the sisters will be a great blessing for our parish.”